Hounds to the hunted

[tomcat]

While Stonn and Pushkin continued their efforts on the bridge and the other ship officers tended to their own tasks, not far away two B'rel scout craft dropped from warp very near the spot where the Romulan vessel had blown apart. The lead vessel immediately commenced scanning the local area of space around it, while its comrade ship took up a position of overwatch, its weapons charged.

"Picking up high levels of radiation, sir," said the sensor operator. "I am also reading large fragments of varied elements moving away from a calculated epicenter approximately 50,000 km away. Thus far no power readings, transmissions, or any other signs of an active ship."

The B'rel's captain shook his head. "Krup noll!" he said.

The two Klingon vessels began to shimmer and then fade from sight - their cloaking devices activated.

With orders given, the flight deck crew had pulled the Galileo shuttle out onto the launch pad. The doors would be manually sealed and then the large hydraulic bay doors would be released and the hangar opened to space, allowing the shuttle to launch. It would be somewhat tricky with no computer assistance to guide the vessel, or tractors to keep it on a proper path.

It didn't matter... as of yet, they had heard of no pilot that was given orders to launch. Still, the crewmen were ready for if and when the order came down from the commander.



[OOC:] Darkan can give me a Stamina test TN 12 that will allow him to begin to clear his brain of the pain-killers. His arm has been set by the med staff, and secured via sling, so the level of meds have been lowered.

If he fails this test, he may try again immediately (adding a +2 to the TN) or he can wait a half hour which will actually reduce the TN by 2 (incrementally for each half hour).

[sdrotar]

OOC: In the previous thread, I just had Stonn all but order Pushkin to commandeer the shuttle if the helmsman felt up to it.

[GandalfOfBorg]

TN 12 Stamina - (2+1)+3 = 6 FAILED
TN 14 Stamina - (2+2)+3 = 7 FAILED

OOC: it'll be another 30 min in the purple haze

[seppun1]

     OOC: I was just waited for permission.   Now, he is running down the central staircase for the shuttle! :D

[tomcat]

The Columbia and her crew did not yet know their good fortune as the two birds of prey took up a course opposite of the Federation vessel.

Also unknown was how long that good fortune would last.

[tomcat]

Stonn heard his communicator beep and he slid from under the communication console to grab it. Flipping it open he heard Billy Anderson's voice and the navigator began a full report of what the Galileo crew had thus far seen.

"Commencing scans now of the Gr'Toth, sir... not looking good though."

At the same moment, a ship-wide page went out over all hand-held communicators. It was from Mr. Ramos in engineering, "Ship's main computer core is prepared for re-initialization. We are going to be starting the re-boot in a moment, at which time all automated ship functions will cease, including environment. We will have no gravity or life support for at least an hour, so be prepared for weightlessness. The re-boot patch has Life support/environment cued as the first programs to initiate... unfortunately the initiation build will take about 45 minutes. Hang tight... engineering out."

[GandalfOfBorg]

Bored and annoyed with the throbbing from his wound, Darkan calls out over his comm to Stonn for an update.

[sdrotar]

Bored and annoyed with the throbbing from his wound, Darkan calls out over his comm to Stonn for an update.

"Repairs are proceeding as well as can be expected, Captain. Mr. Grahm has extinguished all fires by venting sections of the ship, and Chief Engineer Ramos and his team have devised a way to get all ship's computer systems functional through a full system reset, which will temporarily shut gravity and life-support down. While this is not an ideal solution, it stands an excellent chance of success. Lt. Pushkin has taken a shuttlecraft outside the Columbia to assess the situation, and I am awaiting his report. I shall keep you apprised of the situation as it changes, sir."

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Thank you, Stonn.  I have two requests that you highly consider.  We aren't in enemy territory per se, but it is still hostile.  Have a warp-capable shuttles standing by to launch in the event that we come under attack again or are captured. We might be trying to save our ship, but our high-value technology should be readily-able to be destroyed lest it fall into undesirable hands."

[sdrotar]

"Thank you, Stonn.  I have two requests that you highly consider.  We aren't in enemy territory per se, but it is still hostile.  Have a warp-capable shuttles standing by to launch in the event that we come under attack again or are captured. We might be trying to save our ship, but our high-value technology should be readily-able to be destroyed lest it fall into undesirable hands."

OOC: Do we have warp-capable shuttles at this stage of Trek history? I know the Vulcans had one (it delivered Spock to the Enterprise in ST:TMP), but I don't recall any other shuttle appearances save Star Trek 5 - which used a rather tiny one... I'll just assume we do unless Tomcat says otherwise.

"Understood," replied the Vulcan, with no touch of emotion.

OOC: I'm taking this from the Galileo thread: Pushkin frowns at Anderson's answer. He pauses before tapping the controls, flying the shuttle in closer. "Check it again." He says before clicking on his communicator. "Galileo to Columbia. We are seeing extensive damage.  There is a hull breach in the dorsal side of the ship. There is a extensive damage to a series of "sensitive sensor pallets." He says, not wanting to say Arc Bow over an open comm.  "Ventral Side of the ship is also showing some major hull breaches including a large crack where the life pods are located." He pauses before looking to Anderson. "We have located the Gr'Toth. We are showing...minimal power. There are no life signs. We will continue our searches. Galileo out."

"Captain, it appears that the Gr'Toth has been destroyed with all hands." Stonn knew what that meant - and he knew the captain did as well - they had no one to back up their claims. If they were encountered, it might very well look like the Columbia and a Constitution-class vessel destroyed the Gr'toth and the two previous family-controlled B'rels they encountered earlier in a unprovoked sneak attack.

The Romulans might still have their victory, he mused. Fascinating.

[tomcat]

The lights and consoles went dark on the bridge. If not for the few battery lamps that had been turned on, the room would have been immersed in black. Darkan did not float off the table in his Ready Room, for he had been strapped down, but he did feel his body lose its weight.

Holding the rail to keep himself in place, Stonn relaxed his body and mind. The Vulcan knew sudden movements in weightlessness could send a person crashing about, and so he meditated until the ship completed its re-boot.

Time passed.

With a beep, panels on the bridge came back to life as the LCARS operating system began to function. Stonn shouted out a warning to prepare for the gravity to return, all the while he maneuvered his body so that when it commenced, he would land on his feet.

In another five minutes, the bridge was back to normal. Crewmen milled about, working and waiting for their particular system to come back online.

[GandalfOfBorg]

"Commendations are the least I could do for those brave souls," mused Darkan.

The weightlessness eased the pain of his wounds a bit and for the duration of the experience, he did what he could to remain over the couch on which he was laying lest the abrupt fall that was soon to come further exacerbate his condition.

Darkan smiled as the lights came back on but it lasted only for a fraction of a second as he landed.  Done with the invalid-thing, he hauled himself from the couch in his ready room and stumbled to the door to rejoin his crew on the bridge.  The least he could do was sit in the command chair to bring an air of confidence back to the crew.

Once the door parted, he continued his labored progress to the coveted chair, waiving off any offers of assistance.  "Stonn... two things:  how bad still is it and what do the sensors say outside now?"

[sdrotar]

"Commendations are the least I could do for those brave souls," mused Darkan.

The weightlessness eased the pain of his wounds a bit and for the duration of the experience, he did what he could to remain over the couch on which he was laying lest the abrupt fall that was soon to come further exacerbate his condition.

Darkan smiled as the lights came back on but it lasted only for a fraction of a second as he landed.  Done with the invalid-thing, he hauled himself from the couch in his ready room and stumbled to the door to rejoin his crew on the bridge.  The least he could do was sit in the command chair to bring an air of confidence back to the crew.

Once the door parted, he continued his labored progress to the coveted chair, waiving off any offers of assistance.  "Stonn... two things:  how bad still is it and what do the sensors say outside now?"

"As for 'how bad' it is, sir - the ship has regained computer control and life support, but sensors are not yet operational. Mr. Pushkin has indicated that the Columbia has sustained severe structural damage, including potentially catastrophic damage to the Arc Bow array."
The Vulcan's expression was dour.
"We are nowhere near ready to get underway, sir. Chief Engineer Ramos and his team have done a remarkable job keeping Columbia operational at all, given the circumstances."

[tomcat]

The turbolift doors opened with a whoosh and Grahm stepped out onto the bridge. He saw that things were functional on the bridge and was immediately relieved.

The tactical officer walked over to where his captain, now up and about, and his XO stood. "Sirs, just wanted to report that the fires on Deck's 7 and 8 are out. We have some pretty nasty damage to the life support and power room, but the forward ventral phaser array was not damaged. I did have to pop some of the escape pods and put a couple holes in the bulkheads, but Ramos' teams are already starting on the patches. They are a busy group."

John looked around to see if Jess were anywhere in sight, and was concerned to see she was not. The med staff must have taken her away... he hoped that she was okay. He made a mental note to get to sickbay to see her as soon as he could find even an available second.

The three officer's went over to the now working ship's status board and could see where the efficient chief engineer had highlighted ongoing repairs and who was leading them up.



Level five diagnostic

• Structural integrity is at 28% - pending [6 left of 21 structure points]
• Small hull breaches both dorsal and ventral; secondary security systems (breach force fields) active - Lt. Torrence
• Weapons, life support and operations hit, but superficial - Lt. Com. Ramos
• Cargo hold atmospherics and doors/Replicator network have been damaged and are currently inoperable - Lt. Telek

[OOC:]

Tests Needed:

• Structure and breaches will need to be remedied by an extended Engineering (Structural) test TN 300; I will give a +12 to each test that is from a rotation of crewmen in EVA suits working along with a worker bee shuttle team; each test will take one day [Estimated repair time = 15 days]
• Weapons repairs require a Repair or Engineering (System) test TN 15 to restore the box [Estimated repair time = 1.5 hours]
• Life Support repairs require a Repair or Engineering (System) test TN 15 to restore the box [Estimated repair time = 1.5 hours]
• Operations repairs require a Repair or Engineering (System) test TN 15 to restore the box [Estimated repair time = 1.5 hours]

These tasks can be delegated to any of the 7 on board Engineering Officers (Zantz's is dead) but Ramos or Telek cannot be working on more than one job at the same time, so you may want to prioritize; NPC's will have one half of Ramos' skill levels and I will grant a +5 bonus (except the Structural work) to all tests to account for the assistance of fellow crewmen and ship's technology.

Here is a time breakdown since the Episode started:

A hour* -1	crew slowly revive and begin initial work to find out what has happened
A hour* -.25	Darkan starts his 30 minute tests to come back to his senses
A hour* -0	Klingon B'rels arrive and move in opposite direction
A hour* +.5	Ramos begins computer reboot; Pushkin starts shuttle launch
A hour* +.75	Grahm blows pods and extinquishes fire
A hour* +1	Pushkin circuits the Columbia; Ramos programs the patch
A hour* +1.25	Pushkin discovers the Gr'Toth; Ramos wires the tricorder
A hour* +1.5	Ramos initializes the CPU
A hour* +2	Life support comes online; Telek and Torrence complete repairs on hull breaches and secondary system failures
A hour* +2.25	Sensors come online
A hour* +2.5	Helm and Nav come online [Propulsion]
A hour* +3	Shields come online
A hour* +3.5	Weapons come online
A hour* +3.75	Misc minor systems come online [Operations]

* A hour is the arrival hour of the two B'rels; bullets in light red have already passed

[GandalfOfBorg]

Darkan nodded at the grim news but felt marginally better about the situation.  "Let Ramos know that if he needs more bodies to assist, he is free to requisition all he needs.  You mentioned the phasers, what about torpedoes?  Any progress on the backup plan, Mr. Stonn?"

OOC: Backup meaning the shuttle on standby to escape back to Federation territory if need be.